Overview

Volunteers are essential to the special care Providence Hospice provides. Whether a volunteer is helping families, visiting patients, consoling the bereaved or helping at the office, each contributes greatly to the quality of life for the people we serve.

If you enjoy the following activities, you may get a lot of satisfaction from being a hospice volunteer:

Listening

Sharing a story

Sharing a laugh

Sitting quietly at a bedside

Helping with household tasks

Providing office support

Spending time with wonderful people

Qualities of a hospice volunteer
Providence Hospice volunteers are compassionate men and women who want to make a difference in the lives of people who are approaching the end of life. Important qualities for hospice volunteers include:

Emotional stability

Dependability

Patience

Good listening skills

Adequate resolution of past losses

We recommend that you wait at least one year following the death of a loved one before volunteering with hospice.

Volunteer commitmentWe ask that volunteers make these commitments:

To contribute up to four hours a week, depending on the area of service

To commit to a minimum of one year of volunteer service

Volunteer training
In the Portland area, Providence Hospice offers the Community Hospice Training Program, a free 28-hour course, several times each year. For information about what you’ll learn and when training sessions are offered, please see next training.

For people in Clackamas County who wish to volunteer, please call 503-215-3978 for more information.

In the southern Oregon area, to become a hospice volunteer you must first attend the volunteer training of approximately 28 hours. Contact our southern Oregon volunteer coordinator at 541-732-6532 to learn more.

Providence Health & Services in Oregon is a not-for-profit Catholic network of hospitals, care centers, health plans, physicians, clinics, home health care and affiliated services guided by a Mission of caring that the Sisters of Providence began in the West nearly 160 years ago.